


Persistence of the night

by laughingpineapple



Category: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
Genre: Gen, Guilt, Offscreen character death, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 08:27:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5532533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laughingpineapple/pseuds/laughingpineapple
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The cat has the life he deserves. They both do, Yomiel supposes. (no betrayal what-if)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Persistence of the night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [axilet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/axilet/gifts).



The radio, buzzing and fizzing despite the latest loving rounds of repairs, floods the small room with holiday tunes. Yomiel drifts off to sleep, cat curled up on his chest. As he stretches his neck and hums along a couple off-tune notes – his cords, too, will require some fine-tuning – his nose is tickled by the felt antlers he stuck on Sissel this morning. Tickled! He keeps brushing against the things to relish in all the pointless information his artificial skin sends out to his artificial brain until it's the cat who hisses a protest and turns around, waving his tail at him.

“Come on now. It's Christmas, Sissel. Be a little festive, will you? It's our anniversary.”

One whole year. And it's been worth it.

 

He saw blood on the news today. It wasn't even the news, it turned out, just some crass procedural show about crass detectives solving their crass cases, all guns blazing, more or less literally, as they do. It took him one hour to convince himself that it wasn't his fault, reeling off reasons and necessities for murder like a well-worn prayer. It wasn't even _real_.

Worth it. The rest of the day? Peachy-keen. So very worth it.

 

And most people have their ghosts, and some are cruel and harrowing and and some are draped in white, and Yomiel feels at the intersection of a veritable set diagram of affliction, but that is hardly news. His own white-coated ghost has appeared in the corner of his eye for ten full years, weighing on his every move.

Now he's drenched in blood. Suits him better. And it was worth it. Always.

 

Worth it. Asking for forgiveness to small dogs is worth it. Steering clear of married couples is worth it. Holding fast onto Sissel is worth it, running three miles every day with guilt always catching up behind him is worth it, seeing his old country drown in flames is worth it and in the end, what other choice did he ever have?


End file.
